MedicAlert Autism Found service

24/7 Wandering Support Service for those Affected by Autism

Free autism medical ids & wandering support services available for a limited time
Supported by the Northwestern Mutual Insurance Endowment Fund

50% of individuals with autism will wander or elope. For children with autism who wander and are under the age of ten, 42% of outcomes will result in tragedy. We are committed to turning these tragedies into successful family reunification stories.

MedicAlert Foundation operates under the mission “protect and save lives”; therefore, we developed the new MedicAlert Found® program to provide an additional layer of protection for the autism community. Our goal is to ensure every person affected by autism has our autism medical IDs and 24/7 wandering service. Join us in our effort to reduce the number of wandering tragedies by enrolling your loved one today.

MedicAlert’s autism medical ID and 24/7 Wandering Support Service was critical in protecting seven-year old Miles Green who decided to “walk to France” in the middle of the night after seeing some of his favorite characters on TV do the same thing. He was a few blocks away when a stranger noticed him walking alone late at night and near a very busy road.

Importance of Autism Medical IDs

Medical identification bracelets and necklaces are a critical part of a family’s overall safety plan, especially if a loved one is affected by autism. Why should your child have a medical ID? It’s important to their safety – protecting them in a wandering emergency, communicating their condition to others who may not be informed about the reasons for their behavior, and speaks for them in the event that they cannot.

Reasons your loved one needs an Autism Medical ID:

Communicates your loved one’s autism-related condition

Serves as a signal to law enforcement that your loved one has autism

Speaks for your loved one when they cannot, especially important for non-verbal individuals

Connects to family/caregivers in the event of an emergency through MedicAlert’s 24/7 support service

States other conditions, allergies, or medications to avoid potential medical errors

With the MedicAlert Found program, your loved one with autism will receive a free autism bracelet or necklace.

Importance of Autism Wandering Support Services

Wandering is a major concern and very real threat for parents and caregivers. 50% of individuals with autism will wander or elope. For children with autism who wander and are under the age of ten, 42% of outcomes will result in tragedy. This is because children with autism are often drawn to bodies of water or traffic situations, making the wandering situation all the more dangerous.

With MedicAlert’s 24/7 Wandering Support Service, these wandering scenarios can have successful outcomes. The service coordinates with local law enforcement and the missing person’s family to ensure a “community network” is activated and working simultaneously to quickly locate the person with autism and safely return them home to loved ones.

MedicAlert has been providing 24/7 wandering support services for the autism community for more than a decade and knows how to effectively handle these stressful and delicate situations. We have partnered with law enforcement and families for thousands of wandering emergencies and autism-related elopement incidents. Our service has proven to save lives, especially those at-risk during a wandering situation.

What to Do When Your Loved One Goes Missing

In the event that your loved one with autism has eloped or gone missing, we will work with the family and local law enforcement to quickly find your loved one. Luckily, if your loved one is part of the MedicAlert Found for Autism program, they have a medical ID signaling their condition and are connected to MedicAlert’s 24/7 Wandering Support Service. Even so, we understand the stress and emotion involved during wandering emergency situations, therefore we recommend you take the following steps:

We will maintain communication with you and local law enforcement to ensure all are up-dated regarding your loved ones’ status.

MedicAlert can even provide law enforcement with your loved one’s photo and any additional identifying information that we have on file.

If Your Loved One with Autism Has Been Found Wandering

MedicAlert will work with law enforcement to communicate your loved one’s information on file. This ensures law enforcement understands your loved one’s autism-related condition and any other relevant health information.

MedicAlert will contact family to communicate the whereabouts of your loved one and where they have been found. This ensures your loved one is safely returned home and family is quickly reunited.

MedicAlert Found Success Stories

Seven-Year Old Miles

MedicAlert’s autism medical ID and 24/7 Wandering Support Service was critical in protecting seven-year old Miles Green who decided to “walk to France” in the middle of the night after seeing some of his favorite characters on TV do the same thing. He was a few blocks away when a stranger noticed him walking alone late at night and near a very busy road.

Unable to communicate his parents’ information, the woman did notice Miles’ MedicAlert bracelet, which explains that he has autism and is prone to wander. She called the 800 number on the back of his bracelet, spoke to a MedicAlert emergency operator, Miles’ parents were then immediately contacted and he was returned home safely.

“This situation is any parent's worst fear,” explains Jennifer Green, Miles’ mother. “It's such a relief as a mom to know that he has his bracelet on all the time, and that MedicAlert is there if we need them - anytime.”

Nine-Year Old Brandon

While his mom Aimee was away from the house, nine-year old Brandon was at home with his older siblings. Unaware that Brandon had figured out how to climb the fence, his older brother first assumed he was just around playing in the tree house. Soon after beginning to look for Brandon, he realized that he had wandered outside of the yard. Upon finding out her son was missing, Aimee went into an immediate state of panic.

When driving down the road, a woman saw a young boy walking barefoot in the middle of the road. She knew something wasn’t right when she made a few attempts to get the boy’s attention while he continued on with no response. After pulling over her car; she immediately recognized Brandon’s MedicAlert medical ID bracelet with the inscription “Autism & Non-Verbal.” She immediately called the number on his bracelet connecting her to MedicAlert.

“I was driving around for less than two minutes when MedicAlert called me,” said Aimee, adding “Brandon would have kept going and ended up who knows where if the nice woman hadn’t stopped and saw his MedicAlert ID bracelet. MedicAlert told me exactly where I could go to pick up Brandon; I couldn’t help from being a blubbering mess and so grateful.” Aimee added “My parents were the ones who made the decision to get Brandon’s MedicAlert a few years back, that night I contacted my dad and told him how MedicAlert saved his life.”

Partnership with Law Enforcement

Missing person and wandering incidents are a major concern for law enforcement, especially as it relates to the autism community. MedicAlert has the MedicAlert Found for Autism program in place to address wandering emergencies for children and adults with autism spectrum and developmental disorders. The MedicAlert programs work with the families of missing loved ones and local law enforcement to create a community network system that aims at quickly finding the missing individual, ensuring they receive medical care if needed, and reuniting them with family. MedicAlert’s services are aimed to aid law enforcement during the search for a missing community member. The information MedicAlert provides has been proven to save time, resources, and most importantly, it saves lives. MedicAlert also has the most robust national registry and database for individuals at risk for wandering and continues to serve as a trusted resource for storing individual’s personal information.

To further its commitment to assisting law enforcement and community members, MedicAlert has created the LEAP program. This program provides free MedicAlert jewelry and services to community members who are at-risk for wandering, and provides wandering emergency training for law enforcement officers. Learn more at www.medicalert.org/LEAP

Order Autism Materials for Your Organization

Is your group interested in learning more about the Autism Found for Autism program? Do you have a large group of individuals who need more information about the free autism medical IDs and 24/7 Wandering Support Service? We are happy to provide brochures and any additional resources your group or organization may need to further spread the word about our free autism program.

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MedicAlert Foundation® is more than a medical ID - we are the most dependable, responsive, and trusted emergency support network.